Device for assorting animals



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

O. F. SHEDD.

DEVICE FOR ASSORT-ING ANIMALS.

No. 342,977. Patented June 1, 1886.

WITNESSES: & INVENTOR:

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2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

O .P.$-HEDD. DEVIGE FOR AS SORTING ANIMALS- Patented June 1, 1886.

INVENTOR t; BY UM/W141 ATTORNEYS.

WITNESSES N. PETERS. Phnlo-Uihngnphnr. Washlnghan. n c.

NI'IED STATES v PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES F. SHEDD, OF FAIRFIELD, NEBRASKA.

DEVICE FOR ASSORTING ANIMALS.

SrF-CIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No.342,977, dated June 1,1886.

Application filed December 9, 1885. Serial No. 185,134. (No mode To allwhom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES F. SHEDD, of Fairfield, in thecounty of Clayand State of Nebraska, have invented a new and Improved Device forAssorting Animals, of which the followingisafull, clear, and exactdescription.

My invention relates to an asserting stock gate or apparatus, and to itsapplication to inclosures and appliances for assorting and loading livehogs, calves, or sheep into wagons and other conveyances.

The invention consists of the construction, arrangement, and combinationof parts, all as hereinafter described and claimed.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming part ofthis specification, in which similar letters of reference indicatecorresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is abroken plan view of my new device for assorting andhandling animals, showing the assorting-gates closed. Fig. 2 isalongitudinal sectional elevation taken on the line w 00 of Fig. 1. Fig.3 is a transverse sectional elevation taken on the line 3 of Fig. 1.Fig. 4 is a plan view showing a modified form of the latch for the gatesA A; and Figs. 5 and 6 are respectively front and back views of one ofthe gates, showing the modified form of latch.

A A represent the assorting gates. These are hinged to the inner end ofthe short wall or partition B, which is built central,orthereabout, tothe main parallel side walls, 0 O.

The gates A A are adapted to open toward each other back to back, andare adapted to close, respectively, against the side walls, 0 0, thusseparating the side compartments orpens D D from the main frontcompartment or chute, D. The rear end of the compartment D is closed bythe wall or' fenceE, while the rear of the compartment or pen D isclosed by inclined platform F and sliding door F, to be hereinafterdescribed.

The gates A A are arranged to be operated from a distance, so theanimals may be separated and worked from one compartment or pen toanother without the necessity of a person entering the inclosures.

For operating the gates I attach to them, by the cords a, that pass overpulleys b, the weights 0, which normally hold the gates closed. Thelatches E E of the gates engage with notches e, made in the boards 0 ofthe side walls of the inclosu re,for locking the gates in closedposition, and the latches are held drawn downward by the springs (I, sothat the latches will act promptly in dropping into the notches e whenthe gates are closed by the weight 0. The latches turn on the pivots f,and are held at their outer ends by the staples f, that permit thelatches to move up and down through a limited space.

For lifting the latches and opening the gates from a distance, I employcords h h, one for each gate. The cord h is connected to the latch E ofthe gate A, and is passed across the inclosure D to the pulley t,situated upon the side wall or fence, 0. The cord h is connected withlatch E on the gate A, and passed across the inclosure D to the pulley2", situated upon the side wall or fence, 0. From the pulleys it" thecords h h pass along the walls or fences O C, respectively, to anydesired distance, and the extremities of the cords may be provided withthe ringsjj, asshown in Fig.1, for convenience in drawing the cords toopen the gates.

The cords h h may be connected with the latches by various means, orthey might be connected directly with the latches and passed over apulley at the top of the gates; but I prefer to employ the bell-cranklevers or plates k is, pivoted at the top of the gates A A,respectively, to the upper ends of which levers the cords h h areconnected, the opposite ends of the levers k 7c being connected to thelatches E E, respectively, by the'cords Z Z, so that by drawing upon thecords h h the upper ends of the bell-crank levers will be thrownbackward and the lower ends upward, which will lift the latches out oftheir notches and release the gates. The gates being thus released,bydrawing still further upon the cords the gates may be swung open ontheir hinges. The opening of the gates will lift the weights 0, so thatwhen the cords are released the weights will instantly draw the gatesclosed. Arms G G are attached-to the upper edges of the gates A A, sothat the gates may be conveniently opened by a person sitting upon thewall B.

In the compartment D is placed the gate or ICO panel H. This is nothinged, but is used to cut out the animals one at a time, and thenplaced against the upright cleats I I and held' thereto by the hooks mm. The hooks m m are attached to the center of the width of the cleats II, so that the gate or panel H may be .placed upon either side of thecleats and held by the hooks, as shown in full and dotted lines in Fig.1.

The animals may be admitted to the device through the chute D byremoving the gate or panel H; or they may be admitted first to the sidecompartment, D, by removing or sliding the door J. (Shown in Fig. 1.).When admitted at the door J, the panel H will be put across the chute toform the compartment D and the animals desired will be worked fromcompartment D into said compartment D through the gate A. Fromcompartment D the animals will be worked to compartment D through thegate A. From compartment D the animals (hogs, calves, or sheep) may beloaded into wagons or other conveyances by backing the conveyanceagainst the upper edge of the inclined platform F and removing thevertically-sliding door F and forcing or driving the animals up theinclined platform into the conveyance. For driving the animals up theinclined platform F, the person in the inclosure D will take the loosegate or panel K in hand, and hold it across the inclosure D behind theanimals, and move slowly forward, thus forcing or driving all theanimals before him up the platform until they are all in the wagon.

In case the device is used simply for gradi ng or separating animals,the platform F, door F, gates K H, and wall E will be dispensed with,and the animals will enter the chute D and pass out through compartmentD or D according to grade, the gates A A being properly operated by thecords h It or by the arms G G. V

In place of weights 0 c for closing the gates A A, suitably-arrangedsprings may be used for the purpose, and in place of pivoted andvertically-movablelatches applied to the gates AA. I may use on eachgatea sliding latch, E, (shown in Figs. 4, 5, and 6.) This form of latchis held loosely by the staples or keepers q q, and is pressed forward byflat spring, S, attached to the gate and arranged to press against theinner end of the latch, as shown clearly in Fig. 5.

For operating the latch E,I use a bent rod,

E". which is bent to form the upper horizon tal arm, 8, and lowerhorizontal arm, 8, which latter reaches through a slot, t, made in thegate and enters the eye, t formed upon or attached to the latch E, asshown clearly in Figs. 5and 6. The arm 8 of the rod E" stands at anacute angle to the lower arm, .9, and when the latch is forced outwardby the spring S the arm 8 stands parallel with the gate and theoperating-cord h is attached to the outer as new and desire to secure byLetters Patent- 1. In a device for assorting and handling animals, thecombination, with the side walls,

0 O, and the short partition B, of the gates A A, pivoted to the saidpartition, weights for closing the gates,and spring-latches,and cordsconnected to the said gates and latches, each cord being passed over apulley on the wall opposite tothat against which the gate closes,substantially as herein shown and described.

2. In a device for assorting and handling animals, the combination, withthe side walls, G 0, provided with pulleys i 13, and the short partitionB, of the gates A A, pivoted to the said partition, the cords a, weights0, for closing the gates, the spri n g-latches E E, the bellcrank leversk k, pivoted to the said gates, the cordsl Z,connected to the latchesand bellcra'nk levers, and cords h h, connected to the bell-crank leversand passed over the said pulleys i i, substantially as herein shown anddescribed.

3. An assorting and handling device for animals, consisting of the sidewalls, 0 C, the short partition B, the removable panel H, the inclinedplatform F, the sliding door F, the hinged gates A A, weights 0, latchesE E, and cords h h,substantiall y as herein shown and described.

CHARLES F. SHEDD.

Witnesses:

IRA TITUS, J OHN PRALL.

